Technology Advances That Will Impact Our District Directly

On Tuesday, April 24th Google announced the release of the much anticipated Google Drive.  Our district will benefit directly from this new service and it will soon be part of the digital suite of tools available to our students and teachers. Google Drive provides up to 5 GB of storage for each user, and streamlines a variety of current processes, including the need to store and backup nearly two terabytes (roughly 2,000 gigabytes) of student data.  To do so the district currently maintains five servers, a growing number of large backup drives, and a wealth of backup tapes.

Google Drive offers many advantages, including the sharing of large files (as opposed to emailing them), enhanced collaboration, and--as written on Google's website, it allows users to, "open over 30 file types right in your browser—including HD video, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop—even if you don’t have the program installed on your computer." 

Google Drive comes at a perfect time for the District, as next year most of our student work will be stored in the cloud (translation--securely on the internet) rather than on our local area networks.  The District's technology committee made this recommendation several months ago as part of its ongoing commitment to making the best tools available to our students while maintaining a reasonable total cost of ownership.  Students already have access to district-sponsored gmail, and next year all district email will be provided by Google, though our email addresses will remain unchanged.  

Nearly five years ago the Clarkstown Schools decided to adopt Google Apps as a cornerstone application for student learning and engagement.  One of the most compelling reasons is we would be partners with an industry leader and that emerging technologies would be regularly added to the service.  This was much preferable to using a proprietary system and having to request enhancements, wait for them to be developed, and likely having to pay for them.

Google Apps is a completely web based system, allowing our students and staff to access their files at anytime and anywhere there is an Internet connection. Additionally, up to fifty users can collaborate on a document at the same time from remote locations.  The Clarkstown Schools have been recognized nationally for the innovative ways in which teachers and students utilize this service, and professional development related to using this tool to further engage our students is ongoing.  

The service, which is $60/year for businesses (that translates into several hundred thousand dollars for a district our size) is provided to schools at no cost by Google.